Album of the Year :: The Good Life

This week I decided I'd post an extremely well executed concept album, "Album of the Year," by The Good Life. The record chronicles the rise and fall of a relationship, with each track representing a month.

The first title track starts in April and summarizes the entire story of a man and his bartending girlfriend. The next two tracks, "Night and Day" and "Under a Honeymoon" outline the beginning of their relationship. "You're No Fool" is about other people speculating on whether or not the guy is cheating on his girlfriend. "Notes in His Pocket" is about supposed instances of his infidelity. Neither song outright states that he cheated, but hint pretty heavily. The next tracks, "You're Not You " and "October Leaves" are about the dissatisfaction both feel in the relationship. "Lovers Need Lawyers" is the man defending his actions to the woman. "Inmates" is sung mainly from the woman's perspective and chronicles the end of their relationship, ending with the woman dumping the man. The next track, "Needy," is from the perspective of the man, he whines about why the woman left him. "A New Friend" is from the man's perspective about how his ex is seeing someone new. The final track, "Two Years This Month," talks about how the guy hasn't talked to his ex-girlfriend in two years.

Musically, the album falls pretty squarely under the rubric of indie-rock. While the record is really excellent all together, not all of tracks can stand alone. Notable tracks that I listen to outside of the context of the album are the title track, "Under a Honeymoon," "Lovers Need Lawyers," and occasionally "Night and Day" and "Needy."

If you've got some spare time, specifically 53 minutes and 22 seconds consecutively, I highly recommend sitting down and listening through "Album of the Year."If you're one of the people that knows me in real life, I can lend you a copy. Or you can listen online below. Thank goodness for Imeem.